When I was in Ireland a native told me about St. Patrick's Purgatory, a pilgrimage site on the northern part of the island. According to legend, Jesus showed Patrick the entrance to hell there, which was some sort of cave. Nowadays the cave itself is closed, but there is a monastery for pilgrims to pray at. When I heard this story, I immediately thought, "Huh. It's funny how the entrance to hell is on some small corner of Ireland when the Romans thought it was a lake in southern Italy."

Yep, oftentimes in Latin the word Avernus is used as a metonymy for the underworld because Lake Avernus was the entrance to it. Birds supposedly would die if they flew over it; Aeneas himself entered the afterlife through it. And I'm certain if Kratos ever ended up in Italy, that's how he would travel to Hades like he does in every game.

I've discovered there are other supposed gates to hell besides those in Italy and Ireland. I wonder why they weren't more researched in previous times. I mean, you have the fucking entrance to the underworld. How fucking cool is that? I know most of us would have no interest in entering a situation that may possibly result in your eternal suffering, but surely there's gotta be some crazy fuckers who try to figure this shit out. To this day, I don't think archaeologists have fully excavated St. Patrick's Purgatory either (although the church may be preventing them). Surely modern science isn't what bore insane dudes who want to figure out shit no matter what. There had to have been some guy who wants to get to the bottom of this and found out the bottom did not include hell.

Although, wouldn't it be hilarious if it's true? That the door to hell is on a tiny island off the most marginal county of Ireland?